"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Keep On Loving Each Other

Today's Reading:Song of Songs 1:1-4:16Hebrews 13:1-25Psalm 135:1-12Click on Text Link to Read OnlineFocus Verses:Hebrews 13:1-31 Keep on loving each other as brothers. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. 3
Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and
those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.Insight:
Love,
benevolence, social justice, and empathy are all essential to living
out our faith in God. We can't truly follow the way of Jesus without
being loving, hospitable, and caring. Followers of Christ must have
soft hearts toward those who are suffering—the marginalized, the
mistreated, the foreign, the forgotten, the overlooked, and the
abandoned.

Response and Action:
I
want to live with Christ-like love for my Christian brothers and
sisters. I want my actions and attitudes to be guided by a genuine
concern and love for all people. I must open my eyes to the needs of
people around me. I need to cultivate a compassion and empathy for
those who are suffering or in need, and take action to help them. As I
follow Christ, I want to learn how to be a helper and friend for those
who are in difficult circumstances.

Lord,
make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me
sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union;
where there is doubt, faith; where there is darkness, light. Grant
that I might not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be
understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love. For it is in
giving we receive; it is in pardoning, we receive pardon; it is in
giving that we are born to eternal life. Amen.Spiritual Formation Verses:1 John 3:16-1716
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for
us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If
anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no
pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?Resources:Practical Justice: Living Off-Center in a Self-Centered Worldby Kevin Blue

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About Me

I serve as the lead pastor with Valley Christian Church in Lakeville, MN and publish two blogs – Altered Faces (Faith, Humor, Life, and the Arts) and Useful Breath (a daily journal for Bible readers). You can contact me through my website which also has information about my music and ministry.